The Lazarus Files, Matthew McGough
The Lazarus Files, Matthew McGough
7 Rating(s)
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The Lazarus Files
A Cold Case Investigation

Author: Matthew McGough

Narrator: Matthew McGough

Unabridged: 27 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2019


Synopsis

This program is read by the author.

A deeply-reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect – a female detective within the LAPD’s own ranks.

On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John’s, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects, and the case went cold.

DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri’s arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus, John’s onetime girlfriend.

The Lazarus Files delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri’s murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?

About Matthew McGough

Matthew McGough has written for the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and more. His acclaimed memoir Bat Boy: Coming of Age with the New York Yankees was the basis of Clubhouse, a primetime TV series on CBS, and his story about his first day with the Yankees was selected to lead the pilot episode of The Moth Radio Hour. Formerly a legal consultant and writer for NBC’s Law & Order, he lives in LA with his wife and children.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Valerity (Val) on April 01, 2019

The is such an excellent true crime story about the murder of Sherri Rasmussen back in February 1986. She was a newly married director of critical care nursing at Glendale Adventist Hospital. It is meticulously told, a bit too much so, in that it comes out to six hundred plus pages. Some repetitious......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on May 17, 2019

Yes, it’s a long book, but it’s also impeccably researched and beautifully told, in a way that reminded me of Michelle McNamara’s I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK. There’s a real compassion here for the victims and their families that is truly touching, and layered on top of this compassion is a meticulous......more

Goodreads review by Paul on May 01, 2019

Six hundred pages that include such bits as several pages on the O.J. Simpson trial and another totally unrelated murder case of a woman who lives in a "teardrop camper." Also such memorable passages as listening to the interrogation-room tape when nobody's there and hearing the "clack of their shoe......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on June 18, 2019

The murder of Sherri Rasmussen was a horrific act that devastated countless people. She was vivacious, well-liked, and outgoing. If you are going to read one book this summer, grab this one, it is a masterpiece. When Sherri was murdered, no one could figure out who had done it. Although there were so......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on February 20, 2019

I love true crime and this book immediately caught my attention, however the book is way too long. I think the author went a bit over the top with some of the background information and I started to lose interest because of the length. There was just way too much information included in the book and......more